18!t4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



33 



4.?i.s. — We always make it a practice to remove 

 he enamel cloth (if in a chaff hive) and put 

 m top in its place a sheet of burlap. Any old 

 tarpet or old cloth that has not been waxed or 

 meared up with propolis would do just as well. 

 )n this put the chaff cushion, but be sure there 

 s a passageway over the combs, under the bur- 

 ap. We use Hill devices; but many others use, 

 /ith equally good effect, sticks or corncobs 

 cross the frames. P. VV. asks again, how it 

 .'ould work to place on top of a strong colony, 



I the spring, to get increase, another hive tilled 

 'ith foundation; after the queen was laying 

 bove. to lift the top hive oft', and set it on the 

 Id stand, and taki-, the old one and put it on a 

 ew stand a few feet away, ^hs.— This would 

 ork all right providing your colony was extra 

 irong. But usually, in the spring, such a plan 

 ould only be working mischief. You would 

 ave a lot of weak spindling colonies that 

 ould be practically good for nothing at the 

 me of the honey- flow. It is better to secure 



II the increase possible inside of the original 

 areni colony. 



^cd^^mli^ 



KOPOKTION OF ACID TO WATRK IN WAXKEN- 

 DKRING. 



Please tell me how much acid I need to use in 

 eaning ]()U lb-, of cappings; also what kind 

 acid I need to call for. 



Douglas D. Ha.mmoni>. 

 Malone, la.. Nov. 13. 



[For rendering cappings, no acid will be 

 jeded. Sulpliuric (and that is the acid we use) 



or should be u>ed on dark or dirty wax. We 

 ) not use it stronger than about a quart of 



id to a barrel of water. More often the solu- 

 on is mucli weaker than this. Much depends 

 joii the kind of wax to be worked.— Ed.) 



) SECOND SWAKMS BY THK HEDDON PLAN. 



We have 10 colonies of bees in the Langstroth 



ivc. and we are never troubled with second 



vaiins in this hive. I bought four colonies in 



X hives in the last tiiree years. We let them 



vutin the second time, and then drummed 



•m out. Three seconds out of the four came 



t thi- ].")th day after the first swarm; one on 



' l-'th day. I don't see why any person 



lould iiave second swarms in the L. hive. We 



ver cut queen cells except for nuclei. We 



ork the Heddon plan at svvarming time. 



here is no danger of second swarms. We had 



swarm make 30() lbs of extracted honey. 



id another make 12.5 lbs. of ci.mb. The aver- 



:e of the others was 12.') lb-*, extracted. 



^, ^ John V. I{KTTi:iD(iK. 



St. Marys. Out.. Dec. 4. 



ALSIKK CI,OVEK PKOFPrAKLK FOH IIAV AND 

 CLOVKK. 



lean not think of doing without (jlkanings. 

 Through its instruction I was induced to sow 

 alsike clover, which I have been doing for the 

 last ten years, and find it a profitable farm crop 

 for hay, pasturage, and especially for honey. 

 We had l.")00 lbs. of honey this year, and I am 

 quite sure 10(Ki lbs. of that came from alsike. I 

 was induced to have my "haystack"' hulled 

 this fall; and even if it was half timothy we got 

 eleven bushels of very tine alsike clover seed. 

 My neighbors have seen its utility, and the 

 seed is nearly all sold at *10.0() per bushel. 



Joy, 111., Nov. 28. W. M. Miller. 



PUBIJC OPINION AND THI<; NON SWAHMERS. 



How public opinion does change in regard to 

 the swarming or non-swarming of bees for the 

 best results in honey-gathering! If those who 

 advocated swarming in a late issue of Glean- 

 ings had no better fall flow than I am expecting 

 here every year, they would do their best to get 

 what white honey they could, and then leave 

 the dark for the winter stores. Ask those who 

 cage their queens, and see what they say about 

 more or less honey to the hive. 



H. P. Langdon. 



East Constable, N. Y., Dec. 8. 



[Yes, we should like to hear from the queen- 

 cagers. — Ed.] 



HOW (^TKEN CAGE C.\NDY IS AFFECTED BY 

 CLIMATE IN AUSTRALIA. 



I received two queens from ]\Ir. Doolittle a 

 few weeks ago, both dead, and had been for 

 some weeks, I should say. by the appearance. 

 The candy was so hard I could hardly slick a 

 knife in it; but in a few days after, I was talk- 

 ing to a bee-keeper and I said the candy was 

 too hard. I reached him the package down to 

 look at, and the candy had become quite moist, 

 and in grand condition for bees. Of course,_it 

 is the climate. R. 11. Jervis. 



Moss Vale, N. S. W., Australia, Oct. 30. 



[This verities the opinion we have expressed 

 before; viz.. that our present queen-cage can- 

 dy is quite liable to be affected by the excess- 

 ively hot (to our way of thinking) climate; and 

 it is not possible, with the present method of 

 making, to have the candy always just right 

 when it reaches the hot climate. So far as we 

 have tried, the-Good (or Scholtz) candy is alto- 

 gether the best.— Ed] 



OI>D FOUNDATION AS GOOD AS NEW; THAT 

 '"LONG LEAN YANKEE." 



Bro. Root: — Do you remember the second day 

 of the convention, how that long lean Y'ankee 

 (I do not rememl)er his name) from Missouri, I 

 believe, that argued against Bro. Taylor's fine- 

 spun theories? He was a comical genius; but 

 I think that, if he were to look at the bee-busi- 

 ness in the right light, he would see that even 

 farmers, if they do not learn the nature and 



